4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Teacher's Perspective, January 2, 2001
This review is from: Addison-Wesley's Interactive Unix Tutorial and Reference (Paperback)
The Interactive UNIX Tutorial and Reference is probably an acceptable choice for the person who needs to acquire some truly pedestrian UNIX skills. This is not a book from which to learn UNIX, nor is it a book from which to teach UNIX: The Interactive UNIX Tutorial and Reference is a workbook for the Computer-Based Training (CBT) that comes with the book. The paper book is really just packaging and supportive material for the enclosed CD.
I pulled out the CD to get a feel for how the program works. The CBT and its accompanying Interactive UNIX Tutorial and Reference provide step by step directions that allow the reader/user to interactively walk through some of the basic UNIX concepts and commands. Every CBT module takes the user through brief textual and animated explanations designed to motivate and support a particular topic. After the explanations, the user can practice their new skills in a simulated UNIX environment. And if the student wants to go further, there are written scenarios for the student to follow online on a live UNIX system.
I believe that to be successful in the computer industry, my students need two things, both of which must be reflected in our texts. First, they must have a strong understanding of the basic framework and infrastructure of computer science. This provides the toolset with which they can begin to build their understanding of how to solve programming problems. Second, students must be presented with meaningful, challenging, and stimulating problems that require them to employ their tools. This book provides neither strong theory nor challenging problems.
The Interactive UNIX Tutorial and Reference does a good job of providing a very basic introduction to UNIX. If used to accompany another text, it may be useful. But I do not believe that it makes a strong primary UNIX text.
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